I'm afraid

[kkiiji]

First of all, I'm not making this post in order to offend the developers, in fact I have the UTMOST respect for you guys.

Now, I think his game has set its aims extremely high. This is a great thing, but you guys have taken up a nearly insurmountable task, I'm simply afraid of what will happen when the game comes out.

I'm not saying I'm jumping to the conclusion that the game will fail, but too many times we've all been disappointed by the new MMO that sets its aims too high, and eventually is forced to compromise. I really sincerely hope that doesn't happen to this game, because the Tasumaki I see in my mind is Godly compared to any and all games ever made.

In fact I'm sure we all have that one perfect dream game in our minds, the game that we hope we could make, that's the key sign of a true gamer IMO. Well, at a first glance this actually is my dream game, I'm pretty much speechless.

So I beg of you, game developers, do not compromise anything, take your time, I don't care if this game takes ten more years, don't compromise anything. Please.

[HajimeSaito]

First of all, I'm not making this post in order to offend the developers, in fact I have the UTMOST respect for you guys.

Now, I think his game has set its aims extremely high. This is a great thing, but you guys have taken up a nearly insurmountable task, I'm simply afraid of what will happen when the game comes out.

I'm not saying I'm jumping to the conclusion that the game will fail, but too many times we've all been disappointed by the new MMO that sets its aims too high, and eventually is forced to compromise. I really sincerely hope that doesn't happen to this game, because the Tasumaki I see in my mind is Godly compared to any and all games ever made.

In fact I'm sure we all have that one perfect dream game in our minds, the game that we hope we could make, that's the key sign of a true gamer IMO. Well, at a first glance this actually is my dream game, I'm pretty much speechless.

So I beg of you, game developers, do not compromise anything, take your time, I don't care if this game takes ten more years, don't compromise anything. Please.

The journey to release is a not an easy one. However we are lucky to have an incredibly dedicated and intelligent development team. If I were you kkiiji, I wouldn't worry. :-P

[Herede]

Dear kkiiji,

First of all I would like to welcome you to the forums on behalf of the development team. :)

I do not see why any of us would be offended by this post -- in fact, you make a good point and raise an interesting question. A question, I believe, we have all asked ourselves at some point during development.

It is true that we set our aims very high for this game. It is also true that we plan on including features that are far from what one could call "combat proven". However, the fact that we've decided to break up with all of that which is characteristic for most MMORPGs these days (levels, monsters, raiding, grinding, etc) will actually make our work easier.

Allow me to elaborate on that a bit. Imagine that you are making a traditional MMORPG (as in one including all the features mentioned above). While a lot of time will be spent implementing the game systems that allow these features to be present, even more time is likely to be spent on developing the content associated with said features. Take monsters for example -- one mesh must be created for every monster. Typically, monsters make special sounds when they attack, flee, die, etc; these must all be created by the audio team. Furthermore, monster spawns and behavior must be scripted by world designers.

I could go on and on about this and produce other examples, but I think I've made my point: in developing Tatsumaki we do not have to create as much content as in a traditional game. Instead, we provide the game systems allowing you, the players, to create it for us, thereby relieving us of a great deal of work we would otherwise have to do ourselves; you craft the items, you build the towns, you set the laws.

With that said, I would like to get back to that which seems most important to you: no compromise. As you can imagine, the ambition of the entire development team is, naturally, to build the game in such a way that the feature set it provides conforms completely with the features listed on the web site. However, as many MMOs before us (successful and not so successful) have proven, there are no guarantees that the introduction of a seemingly good feature will work out as well as expected in practice. Therefore, we may reach a point where it is necessary to deviate slightly from the original plan. Such a decision will never be taken lightly, and it is likely that we will involve the community in the process.

However, I can guarantee the following: Tatsumaki: Land at War will always offer you complete freedom. You will always be allowed to do whatever you want to do, without restrictions (besides the obvious). That is the philosophy around which the game is designed. And so it will remain, no matter what.

I hope that this makes you feel better! :)

EDIT: And yes, I am back on the forums and I intend to stay. ;)

[WhiteHawk]

Don't forget to point out that this is the only Feudal Japan MMORPG in existance and therefore it doesn't directly compete with any other MMO. In other words: No rush.

Whatever happens to this game it will still be the free-roaming virtual reenactment of Feudal Japan, which is more than you will find anywhere else. The fact that it is unique means that they would have no advantage in compromising what makes them different, as that is Tatsumaki's greatest strength.

[Herede]

Don't forget to point out that this is the only Feudal Japan MMORPG in existance and therefore it doesn't directly compete with any other MMO. In other words: No rush.

Whatever happens to this game it will still be the free-roaming virtual reenactment of Feudal Japan, which is more than you will find anywhere else. The fact that it is unique means that they would have no advantage in compromising what makes them different, as that is Tatsumaki's greatest strength.

Indeed, maybe I should've emphasized this: if we were to turn "regular MMO" and throw in monsters, levels and spells, it would be our undoing. ;) Ergo, we won't.

[Sokuku Ishimaru]

~Hugs this whole thread.~

I may be 27 when this game comes out, but i'm more then willing to accept that.

Just give me the best experience to roleplay in this world has ever seen, and ill be happy. Judging by the standards set, I am quite sure you will give me this.

Kudos, you made an entire community patient without reason.

[Kaemon]

MMO's base most of their product on the content and it's appeal to the userbase, i.e. if you have enough content and appeal to enough players, you'll create a successful game.

Too much content and players will complain, too little and they'll leave, only as of a few years (not an expert on this) ago did the concept of user's creating content come into play.

And now, a game has come along where the majority (if that's safe to say) of the content will be defined by users, guided by developers.

I have always been of the mind this is what an MMO should be, basically a reflection of the userbase, molded and helped along by the developers, not hindered or diluted to appeal to the lowest common denominator.

[Gheari]

I don't think that anyone has ever complained about a game being too open... But besides that, I'm not too worried about Tatsu.

[Svage]

I have heard of one game that was "too open", but I have no clue what it is because It was a few years ago. The devs put in monsters and NPCs and left everything else up to th eplayers. From what I heard, it was a wasteland of dumped items that didn't time out after laying there for a while, and was all about people who were max power killing everything that moved. It started out good from what I hear, but degraded because the devs had a specific hands off policy on all counts. They wanted it to be a complete player controlled world. You could complain to a "GM" all you wanted, but they wouldn't do anything. Unless someone was hacking. then they would get banned, but that was about it.
I know the devs here have no plan on being THAT "hands off". Besides, I think that was a free MMO.

[otokomiraimarai]

That MMO you speak of is called Darkfall Online and no its not a free MMO. There is many things you can do its much like what Tatsumaki is but as of now it is the best MMO there is until Tatsumaki is done and ready to be played. Go here to read more oh and it releases Jan 22, 2009.
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=79329 Go there read this first. Then go here and watch this to get a better understanding but also check out other videos on youtube about it in related. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bYYT6Wg3Gg




(I CANT WAIT FOR TATSUMAKI TO BE FINISHED, BUT UNTIL THEN DARKFALL ONLINE WILL DO)

[Svage]

The one I was talking about was released a couple years ago, not this year.

[Ronin]

Uh, otoko Darkfall isn't even released yet.... Whatever, I've already got plans to join darkfall until tatsu comes out so I'll see you there :P

[Sykoi]

Darkfall seems eerily similar to Tatsumaki... To a point it would bother me if they hadn't, apparently, been in development for as long as us.
And Svage, the game you're thinking of almost sounds like Face of Mankind.

[Svage]

That might be it, At the time I was not plying much, In the military on a ship you don't get online gamming access alot, but we had some great on ship Quake tourneys.

[kkiiji]

Well that does it, after reading just these few posts I pretty much have total faith in you guys now. Indeed it does sound a lot easier to make a revolutionary MMORPG than a traditional one, I think it was just the fact that it's so unheard of that got me a bit skeptical.

Man ever since I was in junior high I've been dreaming of a game like this, this is going to be awesome! If school doesn't give me too much trouble I'll definitely join the testing process to help you guys out.

[Gheari]

You think it's easier? Well... It's probably about five times harder. Because you have to think of new material and also find ways to program that new material. With a "cookie" MMO, you just have to disguise the same system with a story, and then maybe a pretty GUI and some fancy new features.

Sorry, HUD, not GUI.

[kkiiji]

It probably takes a more potent effort, but less overall work, as one of the developers hinted at earlier.